It's a Beautiful Ride

Monday, February 2, 2015

So, it's been about a year since I last posted on this thing... it's the only way I could think to compile an easily accessible list for the Random Acts of Kindness. As most of you know, RAOK started for my 30th birthday (as a way to not be depressed about getting old, ha!) I had such a great experience with it, that I decided to make it a yearly tradition. Here are the 32 things for this year.

1. mail Valentine's Day cards to military hospital
2. mail Valentine's Day cards to children's hospital
3. Donuts/kolaches to police department
4. tape coins to vending machine
5. tape coins to coke machine
6. recycle newspapers/magazines at Try 2 Recycle
7. recycle water bottles at city recycling center
8. cookies to firemen
9. thank you note w/ candy left for mailman (he left me a sweet note!)
10. clothes to pregnancy care center
11. cookies to university police department
12. tape coins to washer at laundry mat
13. Valentine's Day cards for nursing home
14. cookies for nurses at nursing home
15. pizza to Huntsville State Park guard shack employees (they were awesome and remembered us from last year!)
16. cookies to a neighbor
17. clothes to the C.O.M.E. Center
18. Starbucks card to random person
19. left money prepaid on gas pump
20. coloring books & crayons to hospital
21. flowers to hospital
22. cookies for nurses at hospital
23. scratch off lottery ticket to random person
24. dog food to Rita B. Huff animal shelter
25. food to the mission
26. pay for the next person in line (I did this at Starbucks)
27. diapers for Parent's Day Out at the church.
28. leave a large tip
29. cookies to EMS (he was super nice and gave us a tour of the station :) )
30. senior center donation (I did this Friday at lunch- dropped off a bunch of snacks)
31. clothes to Goodwill
32. cookies to Veteran's Museum

As per last year, there are several items that are pretty much consistent from year to year. I'm trying to branch out, it's just hard to come up with stuff being in such a small town. If you have any ideas feel free to let me know! I could not have done it without my mom baking cookies for me on Friday and Isabel and her awesome niece Bren helping on Saturday, so thank you!! I really enjoy doing this each year and hope to continue it for many more to come.

Hopefully I've inspired you to start your own RAOK project! It doesn't have to be anything huge, just whatever you have time/the means to do. It's a very rewarding way to give back to your community, I know you will love it as much as I do!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Birthday weekend has come and gone and with it, my random acts of kindness project. If you aren't familiar, read about how this started last year for my 30th birthday HERE. Since this wasn't my first rodeo, everything went by much more quickly than last year. I forgot to take any pictures to document, but that's ok, it's about doing it, not proving it. Here's the list of 31 things (some are the same as last year...)

1. deliver donuts & kolaches to the Police Station
2. tape money to vending machine
3. tape money to coke machine
4. recycle newspaper/magazines at Try2Recycle
5. recycle water bottles at the city recycling center
6. drop off dog food to the awesome husband & wife team that run a no kill shelter in Point Blank (they're at Tractor Supply the first Saturday of everything month!)
7. deliver cookies to the fire station
8. left thank you note and candy for mailman in the box
9. deliver cookies to EMS
10. drop off clothes at Goodwill
11. deliver cookies to University Police
12. left quarters taped to a machine at the laundry mat
13. mail Valentine's cards to the VA hospital
14. deliver Valentine's cards to the nursing home
15. deliver cookies to the nurses at the nursing home
16. Pizza to the State Park staff (the huge race was going on again and they were very happy for lunch!)
17. deliver cookies to a neighbor
18. return shopping carts (in the rain...)
19. give a Starbucks card to a stranger
20. left $20 prepaid at the gas station
21. deliver coloring books and crayons to the hospital
22. deliver cookies to the nurses at the hospital
23. deliver flowers to the hosiptal
24. give a stranger a scratch off lotto ticket
25. drop clothes off at the pregnancy care center
26. dog food to Rita B. Huff
27. deliver food to the mission
28. paid for the next person in line
29. diapers and wipes for church daycare
30. leave a large tip
31. Charity Water Page: http://my.charitywater.org/birthday-bash - Donations can be made through March 31st. 100% of the proceeds go to fund a water well :)

I had a blast getting everything done and then spending the rest of the weekend with family and friends. Again, a huge shoutout to Isabel for waking up super early on her Saturday and doing all this stuff with me. Also, to my mom who is awesome and baked 17 dozen chocolate chip cookies for me on Friday. I couldn't have done this without them!

So far, 31 has been a fabulous year! I had supper Friday night with my sister and then went out with some old friends Saturday night- good times were had by all. Sunday, my actual birthday, was the Super Bowl so that was just awesome. I was going for the Seahawks (since my boys were out) and they win. I watched the game at my fav football watching spot the Prater's with Candy and had some yummy food! I even did a little work clothes shopping on Sunday afternoon before the game. This weekend was like the trifecta- birthday, Super Bowl, shopping. :D

I'm just really glad to be making the random acts of kindness a tradition. Hopefully I can influence some of you to start your own random acts of kindness as part of your routine.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Since I rarely post to this blog anymore, I'm not if anyone will actually be reading this.. but it's worth a shot!

In less than one month it's birthday weekend again. Which means, another Saturday filled with Random Acts of Kindness. If you aren't familiar with this concept, check out my post from last year HERE. This year, I'm turning 31 so there will be an extra act thrown into the mix. I'm changing up a few of the others as well, but most of them will stay the same as this is a very small town and it's hard to come up with options that can be completed on a Saturday.

The 31st item for this year is a charity: water campaign. They're an amazing organization that funds water projects around the world. You can visit my donation page HERE and click around to learn more about charity: water as well. They are privately funded so 100% of funds donated go straight to water projects. Did you know that every day 5,000 kids under the age of 5 die from water-related illnesses? We can change that by providing clean water to many places that would otherwise go without. What's really awesome about charity: water, is that once the well is complete (usually about 18 months) you receive GPS coordinates and satellite images of the specific well you helped to build, or if you're a rockstar and raise enough funds, the well you actually build yourself.

Let's take a minute to think about what this means. Skipping a Starbucks run one day, for a week, or even for a month could greatly impact some kids for the rest of their lives. Are you up to the challenge? Donate whatever you are able to give, whether it's $31 for my 31st birthday or $5 for skipping that latte today, every little bit matters. It takes $700+ to fund an entire well, right now my target goal is set at $500, because it was a nice, round number and I love the number five. Let's spread the word and see if we can surpass the $500 mark. If y'all rock it like I know you can, and we raise enough to build an entire well, then maybe we'll have to institute some sort of prize... like I'll get a tattoo or something...

Spread the word guys! Share the link with any and all your peeps via Facebook, Twitter, email, word of mouth, smoke signal, whatever it may be!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Fall has finally made it to Texas, and I am so happy about it! I love not sweating my arse off when doing the most random thing outside, like walking to my office from the parking lot. ;)

Last Saturday, October 19th, I was all ready to run the quarter marathon again (same race as last year) when a cold front blew in Friday night, again. This year it was a little warmer than the 41 degrees at start time from a year ago. We had a chilly 50 degree race. It was fabulous! Prior to the race in 2012, which was my first ever, I had done ALL running at the gym on the treadmill. I was really happy with the result last October: 1:09+ and 5th overall in my age group. My goals had been to run the entire time and not use my inhaler. I achieved those goals, so I felt great.

Fast forward to 2013. Ever since that race in 2012, I've been doing my running outside. I got a taste of outdoor running and there is no turning back. I actually hate running on the treadmill now, so rainy days are not my friend. The course I typically run has quite a few hills and a large encline a the end so I was certain my time would go down some, maybe a couple minutes. Well, I was completely shocked when I shaved SEVEN minutes off my time and was 2nd overall in my age group. Speaking of age groups I entered a new one this year and according to last years times this "older" age group was faster so I was a little nervous about that. Anywho, I was SO excited when I saw those results. I don't try to compete with other runners, because let's face it, I'm not super fast or anything, I just compete with myself. But, my competitive drive is kicking in and now I want to get 1st. I should have known this would happen. haha!

I was actually using this year's quarter as a stepping stone to get ready for a couple half marathons I'm planning this winter and spring. One in December and the other in March, I'm really pumped for the December race. Megan happened to be racing in the quarter so we were able to hang out while we waited for the awards ceremony. She was 2nd in her age group too! We both received medals, it was so much fun! I've convinced her to do the half with my in December so I won't be heading out there alone. Plus, we were right about the same pace for the quarter so I'm sure it'll be the same for this one too. The marathon and half marathon on December 8th is supposed to be one of the best in Texas so I'm really pumped to try it out. Annnnd, it's much more flat than the course we just ran so there's that.

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather! I can't believe Halloween is next week, crazy how time flies. Happy Halloween! Be safe :)

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Has it really been threemonths? My goodness, time sure does fly by. I had decided to take a little break from blogging and time just got away from me I guess. So for the whole 2.5 people who read this ;) no worries I haven't given up all together, just enjoying the long summer days. Hope y'all have been doing the same.

Recently we took a trip out to the hill country and spent some time at the Frio. I absolutely love it out there. It's so peaceful, and there's always a breeze. Even though it rained a little at least every day, we had a blast and can't wait to go back next summer. I've been hitting up the pool as much as possible too, it's just so relaxing. Next summer I'm definitely going to a beach. Like a REAL BEACH. I love Texas, but our beaches are a little lacking in the awesomeness factor. I'm thinking something like the Mexican Riveria- I need white sand, blue water, lounges right out back of the hotel, and of course a very nice waiter person to bring me a delicious beverage right there on the beach. hahaha! Maybe I'll just hit up Grand Cayman again. ;)

I also became a great auntie this summer! I can't believe that Les is old enough to be a little mama.. or that I'm old enough to have a great niece for that matter! Miss E is a precious little thing though. I wish they lived next door to me, or heck in my house so I could just love on that little face and those little hands. Aren't tiny baby hands the cutest thing ever? OK, here are a few pics that I managed to get from the happenings. I promise I'll try to not go another three months.

Hope y'all continue to enjoy the lazy days of summer, fall (and football WOO!) will be here before you know it!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I love this time of year, spring is in the air. Wait, did I say spring- I meant summer/winter. It's been getting up around 90 here but each week we have a little cold snap that drops us back down to the 40's for a day or two. Ridiculous, just make up your mind already Mother Nature!

Anywho... The arrival of outdoor weather definitely puts me into project mode! I've been hitting up some garage sales (hopefully there will be plenty more in the coming weeks) to find lots of goodies and then spending my Saturdays working away on stuff. I was finally got out my camera and took some pics of a big project I finished a little over a week ago. There are a couple photos up on the Ruffles and Lace page (HERE) along with 2 chalkboards I've recently made as well. I'm super stoked about this table, y'all! I had so much fun making it and LOVE how it turned out!

The tabletop is stained in a dark brown and has a stenciled pattern. The drawer has a vintage, yellow knob. The table itself is actually a one drawer desk, but I think it would be fabulous as a little fanity as well, just hang a really big mirror on the wall above it and you're set!

Here are a couple chalkboards I did. The red one at Fair on the Square was such a hit, I just had to make another one :)

Hope y'all are doing well and will be out enjoying the spring/summer time weather! (yesterday was Earth Day afterall!)

Monday, April 8, 2013

I've been thinking a lot lately about this whole "clean eating" thing. I know there are varying degrees to making the jump and I have been trying to decide if it's something for me... Well, I've also had a major sweet tooth lately and been snacking waaaay too much, I think from lack of sleep from the time change, yeah I'm a grandma and still haven't adjusted. So, I decided to take the leap!

As of today, I am clean eating. I'm not going crazy hardcore with it, but I am cutting out processed foods and sugar and trying to just eat natural foods. Sunday evening I roasted a huge sheet of veggies and made my first ever batch of quinoa. If you've never made quinoa, it's definitely a task to make it, those suckers are tiny! *Note to self, buy a 'mesh' strainer.* I also made a homemade salsa to use as a topping/sauce. I'll be bringing this for lunch every day this week. Oh, and FYI quinoa is mega filling. I didn't even bring a full serving of it and I still didn't eat all my lunch because I was so full. Annnd in case you're wondering I brought grapes and baby carrots for an afternoon snack at my desk ;) I'm hoping this will not only make me healthier in general, but also translate into better running as well. We shall see!